This invention relates to an apparatus for retrieving snagged fishing lures.
In recreational fishing, lures with multiple hooks are often used as a substitute for live bait or as the preferred form of fish attractant.
Lures may be simple spoon type lures which are relatively inexpensive or baits fish profile lures which can be very expensive. Such lures often include arrays of multiple hooks and thus they are prone to snagging. This is especially so when fishing over coral or rocks or adjacent submerged tree branches.
As a result, lure retrievers have been developed with the aim of retrieving snagged lures. Mostly, such lures are specifically developed for a particular purpose and often a fisherman will change lures during a fishing session with a view to optimising their catch. Accordingly fishermen may include several types of lure retrievers in their fishing kits for use depending upon the lure being used and the anticipated snag.
Unfortunately snagged lures are not generally visible to the angler and thus anglers may try different types of retrievers with a view to releasing or freeing the lure from the snag. Typically freeing is achieved by hammering the lure in the reverse direction to the direction of pull from the line with a view to freeing the hooks from the snag, or by engaging the lure with a strong catch which will permit the lure to be forcibly pulled free from the snag. Different types of lure retrievers have been proposed for these different operations.
Accordingly it will be appreciated that anglers may require many types of lure retrievers in their kit in order to cope with the variety of snag situations which could occur in a fishing session. Mostly this is not practical and anglers often accept the loss of expensive lures as a necessary cost.
The present invention aims to alleviate at least one of the above described disadvantages and to provide an improved lure.
With the foregoing in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in a lure retriever including:
an elongate impact body for impacting upon a snagged lure;
opposed pivot mountings on the elongate impact body for releasably attaching free end portions of a latching bow to the impact body, and
bow restrainers spaced from the pivot mountings for restraining the latching bow for limited pivotal movement in a forward projecting attitude, the limited pivotal movement of the bow sufficient to enable the bow to pivot away from the line to pass over a portion of the lure, then return to engage behind a portion of the lure for retrieval.
Preferably the lure retriever further includes a rearwardly located tether member or tether loop for attachment of a retrieval cord
Suitably the pivot mounting and bow restrainer permit ready coupling and uncoupling of respective bows to and from the elongate body whereby bows adapted for specific lures or types of lures or sizes may be utilised to suit the lure type or size which is snagged.
The elongate impact body suitably includes a dense core portion such as a lead core whereby the lure retriever may slide freely down a snagged line and impact a snagged lure with sufficient force to free it from the snag. Alternatively the impact body may have only sufficient weight to cause the latching bow to deflect away from the lure upon impact therewith.
The latching bow may have opposed intermediate portions which are maintained inclined to the fore and aft axis of the elongate impact body. Suitably the intermediate portions lead to a narrow throat U-shaped central portion which will engage slidably about a line but be readily obstructed by line attachments.
The fore and aft supporting guides may be hooks from which the elongate impact body may be suspended from a line. Alternatively the fore and aft supporting guides may be spiral wound loops or coils which may be looped about a standing line for captive engagement therewith.
The opposed pivot mountings may be arranged at any position on the elongate impact body and the bow restrainers may be an abutment for a portion of the bow which extends forwardly, laterally or rearwardly from the bow connection with the pivot mountings. Suitably the bow restrainers are in the form of opposed spring latches with which the bow may be engaged for loose retention therein to provide the required pivotal movement.
The pivot mountings may be pins which releasably engage in the elongate impact body such as by screwing therein. Alternatively the pivot mountings may be integral apertured mountings with which hooks or the like on the bow may engage. Suitably the ends of the bows are hook shaped for retention in the apertured mountings and the bow restrainers capture opposed portions of the bows intermediate the hooks and the central or ramped portions of the bow. The pivot mountings and the bow restrainers may be formed from bent spring steel wire as separate forms or as an integral form and secured to the impact body either internally or externally as required.
In another aspect this invention resides broadly in a lure retriever including:
an elongate impact body;
fore and aft supporting guides which may be engaged about a snagged line for guiding the lure retriever for travel therealong to the snagged lure;
opposed bow mountings on the elongate impact body for releasably supporting a latching bow, and
a latching bow releasably connected to the opposed bow mountings, the latching bow having a central latching part adapted for latching onto the snagged lure.
The opposed bow mountings may be sockets for the ends of the bow. Alternatively the opposed bow mountings may include pivot mountings providing apertures with which hook ends of the latching bow may be engaged and bow restrainers for capturing the bow spaced from the bow mountings.
As in the previous aspect the pivot mounting and bow restrainer suitably permit ready coupling and uncoupling of respective bows to and from the elongate body whereby bows adapted for specific lures or types of lures or sizes may be utilised to suit the lure type or size which is, snagged. Other variations including those described with reference to the first mentioned aspect of this invention may be applied to this further aspect of the invention.